A WLAN SSID is a name that identifies a wireless network and is broadcast by a wireless access point. It is used to locate a wireless access point and has specifications and conventions, including a 32-character limit and uniqueness in naming. Disabling the broadcast of the WLAN SSID does not offer additional security.
A wireless local access network service set identifier (WLAN SSID) is a name that identifies a specific wireless network. The WLAN SSID allows users to recognize a specific network from a list and provides an easy method for remembering network names. Typically, a WLAN SSID is broadcast by a wireless access point such as a router. Broadcasts can be turned off, but only people who know about the existence of the WLAN can log in.
A WLAN SSID is the primary method used by most users to locate a wireless access point. On most wireless-capable computers, the SSIDs appear in a list of available connections. Each of the names in that list is an SSID broadcast by a local access point.
There are some specifications and conventions for a WLAN SSID. The only real restriction is that they need a name that is 32 characters or less. There are a few characters that are and are not allowed, but most American Standard Code for Information Interchange (ASCii) letters are allowed, along with a selection of symbols. Because a WLAN SSID is almost exclusively for human use, many people only use human-readable characters, although some non-readable characters are allowed.
Another common convention is uniqueness in naming. Although two SSIDs may share the same name, it is rare for two in the same area to have the same name. The reason for this is mostly for convenience. While a automatically logged in computer will know the difference between the two and will only log in to the correct one, whenever a human needs to look at the SSID list, he won’t know which one to use until he tries to log in.
The one common exception to this is when a single network has multiple access points. In this case, each wireless access point will likely broadcast the same SSID. A similar thing happens on a virtual network, where a single LAN can have multiple independent LANs operating on the same hardware. These names are often done sequentially or on an operational basis. For example, CorpLAN1 and CorpLAN2 would be for sequential networks and CorpMarket and CorpResearch would be operational ones.
Most access points allow the user to disable the broadcast of the WLAN SSID. Depending on the system’s transmission and system’s reception, this will have two different results. The network will not appear at all or will appear as an “No Name Network”. For anyone to be able to log in, they would need to know the SSID of the network.
Although many users believe that this offers additional security to the network, this is not the case. This will prevent unwanted access by people who probably wouldn’t be able to bypass normal security. For a person with knowledge of SSIDs and access points, turning off broadcast is more of a nuisance than a hindrance.
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